Tag: nature

Last Friday, a few friends and I went out to the edge of America and watched the sky fall down. We witnessed about three hours of the Perseid meteor shower from a secluded beach near Morris Island. There were snacks and beverages, and we talked of many, many things. I saw a fireball so immense that I have to question whether I actually imagined it—it was almost too big to be believable really, and no one else can corroborate./i know what i saw tho. it was HUGE./

I have a rather visceral reaction to taxidermy, always have. Nevertheless, I went to the American Museum of Natural History in New York a couple of months ago. The museum itself is a walk through time, as much a museum of museums as of natural history. One can see the evolution of exhibit design while moving through the halls in endless ancient didactic displays and forays into educational design, and always, always—taxidermy.

The place is immense; we all but ran through as much as we could in 5-6 hours and only saw about 40% of AMNH’s offerings. The gift shops are very high quality—some of the best I’ve found in NYC. I have a rather visceral reaction to museum gift shops too, but on the opposite end of the Spectrum of Feels from taxidermy.

Cactus pattern! Since I’ve begun sewing clothes and plushies and working with fabric more, I’ve become quite interested in pattern and print design. This is a page from my sketchbook, in original colors as scanned, and then a color variation created in Photoshop. I flipped a couple of pots around to balance it, since everything in the original seems to lean slightly to the right,and filled in a few “mountain ranges” in the background texture. What do you think? Original or Crispy?

As for the Rocked that Look series, I’ve cooled off on it a bit for the moment in order to redirect, to push more into experimental techniques. I also have quite a lot of holiday gift production to catch up on at the mo’… Where does the time go?

Me: “So you know how it says “…invite you to bear witness?” … Can I put a little bear peeking around the tree, witnessing?” Bride: “Absolutely.”

Two very dear friends of mine are getting married in a few months under a big old walnut tree in North Carolina. I was honored when the bride asked me to design the invitation suite, and thrilled when she told me what she had in mind. I was even more excited when she requested that all the text be hand-lettered as well. We had a really tight deadline, so I spent several evenings on sketches and an entire weekend painting and digitizing the files to be print-ready.

Mads sent me these shots of the final product back from the printer. Love the paper choice—looks like it’s got a nice, toothy texture. This was a really fun project and I hope I get the chance to do more work like this soon.

Currently in the pipeline, I’ve got a big website update coming… eventually, and a new travel illustration—Amsterdam, Bavaria and Northern France, oh my!

Lately I’ve had a thing for raccoons, probably because of this gif. I drew this little fella yesterday morning during Sacred Coffee Time. It’s based on a true story— the photo proving it actually happened can be found on my Pinterest.

I really like the little guy—I totally get how he’s feeling right now. I’m enjoying a rare lull in projects/commissions, my to-do list is completely at-will and I can do whatever I want. I have a cookbook cover/illo project preheating, but other than that, I’m free-floating, and taking the time to smell the proverbial roses… by drawing a cute little forest creatures and drinking coffee.

This is a little woven landscape I made on my trip to Edisto Beach, S.C. last weekend. I prepared the box with embroidery thread before leaving home, and carefully wove tiny bits from our campsite and the nearby hiking trail into it. There are elements of palmetto, oak, and muscadine, and a few other random weeds and what-nots.

This is my first woven landscape, but I rather like the idea. I think I might try to do one for every trip I take, as a little memento of le journey. It’s often hard to find time to draw when you’re with non-drawing friends, but there’s always time to pick up little bits and stuff them in a box. Weave later.

I’ll return to Edisto soon, and spend more time in Botany Bay, a hauntingly beautiful section of beach filled with ghost-skeletons of trees and littered with shells.

Yay, woodland creatures! I originally sketched this out for a friend’s wedding save-the-date, but bride was all like “Um, yay nature, but whoa on the animal party!” So I drew a less populated sketch for her, and meanwhile decided to finish this up for another friend’s birthday. Birthdaying friend loved it, because yay animals! Then bride calls me back. Seems the groom was rather smitten with the animals, particularly the raccoons.

So yay animals! I’ll be finishing up that save-the-date in the next few weeks, complete with hand-lettered poem and such. I’ll go a touch more elegant with it– think “light and airy,” she says.

My dad was a landscape artist. He created a lovely natural oasis in the backyard complete with fish ponds, waterfalls, and brick-lined paths. There was a covered swing, and birdfeeders, and lots and lots of daylillies. I draw bears whenever I miss him, because he was very much like a bear. He was shaped like one, and he could be gruff when hungry or irritated, and downright fierce if his family was threatened. He also had a soft side–a warm and tender and cuddly, huggy side, and a very big heart.

This is my final project for Eccentric Illustration; the theme was “Evoking Emotion.” The timing was uncanny, falling around the first anniversary of losing my dad.

I’m fascinated with abandoned amusement parks left to ruin. The second project for my illustration class was to show time, location, and/or motion, and this was one of my concepts. My instructor didn’t comment on this one, which is a shame, because it was my favorite. I’m guessing he didn’t care for it because it doesn’t really tell a story; it’s just there as something nice to look at. I spent most of last night adding color to it but it’s not finished. I’ll come back to it someday– I have to leave it alone now and work on the one he chose as the strongest.

“…if Marx was right that we think only those thoughts that are thinkable in our time, then we might do well to consider how the discourses of our time shape what counts as real or meaningful, and what truths are delivered to us as a result.”